What Do New Yorkers Want in a President?; Wishes and Whines Are Like Everyone Else's

By DIANE CARDWELL

Published: February 28, 2004

It is the town that likes to pride itself on being like no other, where people thrill to possibilities as endless as a Zabar's deli line and revel in problems as ubiquitous as pushcarts.

So you might think New Yorkers would be ready, at the drop of a NoLita-chic hat, to spew their very own special set of concerns, their wish lists, wants, needs, rants and whines.

You would be wrong. When it comes to electing a president, it turns out that in the city of Central Park, Wall Street and Broadway, voters are not so different in what they want from a Democratic candidate than voters in Berlin, N.H., or Edmond, Okla.

Sure, a few of the dozens of New Yorkers interviewed over the past few days mentioned parochial items among their concerns, like increasing the number of B25 buses running along Court Street in Brooklyn, or getting rid of the restrictions on urban living imposed by the Bloomberg administration, or making a passing grade on the bar exam in one state valid in all others. And a few people discussed their worries about big-city problems like mass transit, aging infrastructure and homelessness -- not things you hear about much from pig farmers in Iowa.

But by and large, the political desires voiced along the bustling skyscraper-lined, traffic-jammed streets oddly echoed those that have surfaced in suburban cul-de-sacs, highway shopping plazas and serene country lanes from New Mexico to Maine. Voters want someone honest, they say, or someone who will end the war, or keep the city safe from terrorism, fix the economy, get rid of the deficit, build more low-cost housing, improve education or find people jobs. Or all of the above.

''I'm looking for anybody but Bush,'' said Alan Kellner, sounding a note that has reverberated among primary voters across the country.

''I'm looking for someone who is more compassionate to the poor and middle class,'' added Mr. Kellner, who helps process health insurance information in a Brooklyn dental office, ''and a better take on how to handle the economy.''

There is also Melvin Johnson, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority customer service representative at Grand Central Terminal who, as a black man from Harlem now living in the Bronx, would seem to have little in common with the average Democrat in a quasi-rural, overwhelmingly white state in northern New England. But ask him what his concerns are going into the primary election on Tuesday, and his answers are not far from those given by New Hampshire residents trying to assess the candidates last month.

''Economy, jobs, sending jobs overseas. That's another joke, O.K., because you're propping up somebody else's economy and ours is going into the toilet,'' Mr. Johnson said between bouts of clarifying track information for rail travelers.

''And this war thing. Oh, we could be here all day,'' he said, noting that flat feet had saved him from a tour in Vietnam. ''They went into Iraq. I think you should get bin Laden before you go into Iraq.''

Indeed, the war on terror was on the minds of many of the New Yorkers.

Christa Collins, a lawyer standing at the B25 bus stop on Court Street in Brooklyn, placed security among her top national concerns. But then she laughed as she cited another political goal: ''Not having to wait forever for this bus to come every time I come here.''

Ariel Jasie, a third-year student at Brooklyn Law School, said that he was interested in a candidate with a realistic economic policy, one who would re-examine the country's path to war with Iraq. ''I feel like I was taken advantage of in terms of being tricked into going into Iraq,'' he said, adding that he wished ''that W. would give us the money that he promised after 9/11.''

Nudged to think a little more freely about what he might want from government, Mr. Jasie said: ''I wish -- I don't want to say give free law school, because everybody thinks there are too many lawyers anyway. I definitely would like to see the subway fares go back down to $1.50, but I don't think any of the candidates are going to speak to that issue.''

Later, he added that he would like a candidate who would somehow institute reciprocity for bar exams -- pass one, pass them all.

Martha Brinson, an administrator in the fair-hearing division of the city's welfare agency, said the candidates should be focused on finding more money for education, health care and housing rather than the war, precisely the sort of equation that crops up elsewhere along the campaign trail.

''Let people live and be able to live and cope with what they make,'' said Ms. Brinson, who lives in Harlem, where ''buildings that were vacant for years now were sold for like pennies to these contractors who are already billionaires.''

''They're pushing people who have been here for generation after generation out of New York,'' she added, ''so I hope the next president takes those issues and hopefully takes a stand for people here in the United States. I mean, sure, worry about the other countries, but I mean, come on. Do we have to, like, feed them? And give them everything?''

Subrena Hayden and Alexis Hines, who said they were convicted felons ineligible to vote -- something they would like to see changed -- both emphasized education as a priority.

''Better education for the schools, more jobs for us blacks and Hispanics, you know, and equal opportunity,'' said Ms. Hayden, who said she had been convicted on a drug charge. ''That's why I'm so big on education. I got my education in prison. It's not like I didn't go, I went, but this president is making the rich richer and the poor poorer.''

Ms. Hines, who said she had been convicted of attempted murder and a drug violation, said she sees education and alternative activities for children who are disinclined to go to school as ways to prevent future problems. ''Not just for them to be out here and get in trouble, get pregnant and anything like that -- something positive,'' she said. ''We need more things done instead of fighting for oil and stupid stuff like that.''

At the same time, several New Yorkers said that they were more immediately engaged in what Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was, or was not, doing than in how a president might affect the city.

''New York is great the way it is, but the mayor really needs to do a lot more about education,'' said Tanya Daigle, a rehabilitation counselor for heroin addicts at Bellevue Hospital Center. ''A lot of kids who go to school in the city are not given enough resources to begin with.''

And there were those for whom all politics should be local. Asked what the candidates should be talking about on the stump, José Roura, who works as a mechanical engineer at an office building in Midtown Manhattan, replied: ''Getting rid of all these stupid rules that Bloomberg has put up, these silly things, like they fine you for sitting down on a milk crate. Like the pregnant girl that sits on the train steps, she gets fined, you know and things like that.''

The presidential candidates, he said, should talk to the mayor, ''and tell him, you know, 'Hey, start thinking about New York and not money for the city, which is hard-working people.'''

Photos: Subrena Hayden, left, and Alexis Hines, who said they cannot vote because they are convicted felons, want a candidate who emphasizes education and activities for children.; Alan Kellner, who works in Brooklyn, is looking for ''anybody but Bush.'' Christa Collins, at left, wants more security, and less waiting for the B25 bus would be nice, too. (Photographs by Nancy Siesel/The New York Times)(pg. B1); Ariel Jasie, a law student, wants a realistic economic policy, and a return to $1.50 subway fares. (Photo by Nancy Siesel/The New York Times)(pg. B4)